recording static

K

killthesoundboy

New member
undefinedundefinedundefined
hey guys currently i'm recording songs using one of those cheap 99cent store mic's, those small mic's you find in a telephone head-set (the quality is actually good). Now i have a few hundread dollars ($200) and want to buy a condenser microphone and a mixer that has 48v phantom power. when i record with the cheap microphone in a quite (no sound) room i hear a very small amount of static. when i buy the condenser microphone and mixer (and do the same thing) will i hear alot of static?


I'm planning on recording vocals for a radio show i am producing and will not have any back ground music to cover up any statck.



Question 2. i have a standard sound card (the cheap one that is built into my pc). To get the best quality should i pluge the out audio signal from the mixer into the line-in jack on the sound card, or the microphone input jack?
 
Odds are the static is coming from the cheap preamp on your soundcard and/or the convertors on your sound card. Take a look at the M-Audio Audiophile 2496 soundcard to replace the one that came with your PC and pick and Audiobuddy from the same company that will act as your preamp. The Audiobuddy is a very good preamp and it has phantom power. By the list price you could get the 2496 for 130 and the Audio Buddy for 120. If you look around you may even be able to find them cheaper.
 
Likely the static is due to the piss-poor preamp circuitry of the Mic In on your soundcard and a combination of that high quality $.99 mic.
Theoretically, you should see an improvement in quality by using the Line In, provided the mixer/preamp and mic is of any low noise quality.
Your best investment will be in your choice of preamp (or mixer) and microphones. These are the forefront of your signal chain and will be the most determining factor of capturing quality material.
Next in line, of course, is the soundcard and the quality of it's converters.

My suggestion would be to put your money into the front-end of the signal chain and see how well you do with your current card and it's Line In.
If the current card doesn't cut the mustard, then save up another $100 for something like the Audiophile 2496.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top